PMA January 09 : Page 18
Connections Hopkins agreed, explaining how HP is piloting a website called Magcloud at www.magcloud.com, where publishers can sell printed versions of their magazines in a quantity of one. Lloyd of Kodak noted the age of digital personalization won’t be the end of printing, but new forms of it. “There are numerous printing technologies to choose from,” he said. “Packaging, for example, is a big opportunity. We will not see a paperless society in the near future.” For the consumer photo publishing market, the panelists agreed more needs to be done to make the job easier for consumers. Liem of Fujifilm, however, joked the problem will be solved soon: “With enough bandwidth and caffeine, Gen-X moms can do anything.” Hopkins of HP added the desire among consumers is there to scrapbook and pub- lish photos, but there are many barriers. “[The industry suffers] from making things relevant and easier to use,” he said. “We need to work on that. Ask moms in general and they’ll say scrapbooking is a good thing; 5 percent do it and 95 percent feel guilty.” One answer, he added, is for technology to step in and make the job easier, even to the point where consumers may not know the job is happening. “There’s no question people will capture more photos,” he said. “Why do I have to physically put them in one device and put them in another device [to make a Documentary maker Rob Spence describes his plan to integrate a wireless camera into his eye. book]? Why can’t technology create the book for me?” In your face technology The 6Sight conference is also the place where next-generation technology is showcased. For example, Jacob White- hall, a student from the University of California, San Diego, demonstrated how facial recognition could be used to control another device. In his demo, Whitehall showed a video on a screen, and then con- trolled the playback by smiling to speed it up and frowning to slow it down, thanks to a camera attached to the computer. Technology evangelist and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki was the Nov. 20 keynote speaker, providing highlights from his latest book, “Reality Check.” A compendium of his more than two decades in the high-tech, Silicon Valley sector, Kawasaki synthesized some of his key learnings into a 10-point series. Among Kawasaki’s observations were product launches today need to be conducted as if there were no market- ing budget. “The new reality is you will not have millions of dollars to roll out a project,” he said, instead suggesting em- phasis on new media, social networking, and blog posts to spread the word. To get this attention, new products and companies have to “jump or create the next curve,” he said. “Most companies make better ‘sameness.’” When it comes to staffing your ven- Rob Tolmie (second from right), of Photo Create, talks about building photo book demand during the international retail panel. Phil Chapman of Black Photo Corp., and Martin Wagner of Ringfoto, flank Tolmie. Gary Pageau, PMA, was the moderator. 16 PMA — January 2009 — www.pmai.org ture, he recommended going beyond finding the “perfect employee.” Instead, find the person with the skills necessary to understand the job and excel in it. Often, this is not a person fitting the typical profile of a marketing or sales executive. Capping the last day of presentations was Canadian documentary maker Rob Spence. A self-described “eyeborg,” Spence is investigating ways to implant a wireless video camera into the socket of his eye. Spence plans to use the camera to create documentaries, as well as to call to attention the proliferation of cameras in public areas around the world. n
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